Psalm 42:1–2: As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
Experiencing Jesus in the Psalms
The psalmist compared his yearning for the living God to the longing of a deer for water. The animal’s need for water to sustain its life forms a fitting simile for a soul’s need of the living God, the Source of spiritual life. 1
Living the Transformed Life
I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Psalm 143:6
- My soul thirsts for God, when I have taken in too much of the world.
- My soul thirsts for God, when I have tried to serve him in my strength and not His.
- My soul thirsts for God, when I have failed to honor Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
May my thirst for Him become so much greater than my thirst for the “shiny things.”
Praise and Prayer
Thank You, Father, for providing a stream in the desert, just when I needed it the most. Dear Jesus, please forgive me for failing to come to Your streams of living water.
1. Ross, A. P. (1985). Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 825). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.